This month I'm adding family memories to my blog posts. Several things that I've read and heard recently have impressed upon me the importance of writing down memories and stories, especially those concerning family members that have passed away. My mother has dementia so her memory is not reliable anymore and we don't really have a good documented family history. For many of my deceased relatives, I'm the last one to remember them, their stories and to write them down. One of my goals this year is to write these family stories down in a journal for my daughters and I'll also be sharing some of them here in my blog. I come from a long line of women who sewed for their family and taught the next generation how to sew as well. My maternal great-grandmother, Bamah Masters, called Mammaw, who I was named after, sewed clothes for her 4 children and my mother, who she helped raise when my grandfather passed away. She had a stoke when I was young so I have no memories of her speaking or being active but heard stories about her from my mother and grandmother. She was an accomplished seamstress, making suits for her daughters and a winter coat for my mother. My mother once asked her if she loved sewing since she did it so well and her answer was not really. She saw it more as a chore that needed to be done. She taught her 2 daughters, my grandmother and Aunt Dorothy how to sew and they both sewed their whole lives including sewing clothes for me. Grandma also taught me how to sew. She felt similar to her mother about sewing. She didn't really love doing it but saw it more as a necessity. My mother was also taught how to sew but she never could manage a sewing machine very well so didn't really make clothes. She could hand sew and did beautiful work that way. Aunt Dorothy loved to sew and was the best seamstress of them all. She could just look at a picture and copy it to make a dress without a pattern. My mother told stories of how if she loved one of her paper doll outfits, Aunt Dorothy would make a dress like it for her. One of my favorite memories of Aunt Dorothy was when she made me dresses for school. My family was living in California when I was really young and before school started for my kindergarten and first grade years (maybe second grade as well, I don't remember) a box would come for me from Oklahoma. Inside the box would be 6 dresses, 5 for school and 1 for Sunday. I got so excited and immediately tried them all on, my own little fashion show. They were all a basic A-line pattern, sleeveless, cotton dresses in various colors, all decorated with ribbon, rick rack or buttons, with or without pockets. I'm pretty sure a least one had a collar making it a sailor dress, I always had at least 1 sailor dress for school growing up. The Sunday dress was always a little different, making it special. It was still an A-line pattern but with a waist and a belt or sash, usually a wide ribbon, most of the time velvet ribbon. I remember wearing one of those Sunday dresses that was a lavender floral print with a lavender velvet ribbon sash. After church we went out to eat and the waitress spilled something all over me and it ruined the velvet ribbon. I was so upset that Aunt Dorothy sent me another ribbon sash to replace it. I also got a Christmas dress sent the first part of December. I was always excited to receive those boxes of dresses, handmade just for me. I was so proud to wear them and told anybody who'd listen that my Aunt Dorothy from Oklahoma made them for me. It was just like Christmas. I love to sew and have taught both of my daughters how to sew. I believe my youngest, Aubree, has taken after Aunt Dorothy for she is an excellent seamstress and has surpassed her sister and I. We have an extensive fabric collection including pieces inherited from Grandma and Aunt Dorothy. I'm so thankful for these wonderful women in my life and the legacy they have left behind of sewing and so much more.
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| Aunt Dorothy and Mom (Dorcas) |
Memories are meant to be shared. And speaking of memories, another one of my goals is to go through and organize many, many years of family photographs. My daughter, Tabitha, is helping me with that so I'm sharing some of my mother's pictures from the mid 40's and 50's that we recently went through. The pictures of my mother in the little white winter coat is the one her grandmother, Mammaw, made for her. The top picture is of Grandma, Mom and Aunt Dorothy sitting on the front porch of their home in Marietta, OK. I'm pretty sure they made the clothes themselves since I recognize the fabric from Grandma's blouse. The picture of Mom and Grandma taken in the 50's is one of my favorites. It's in pretty bad shape but Tabitha manage to scan it and clean it up. I also recently found my baby book and had to put the pictures back in that had come out. I have a photo of my great-grandma, Bamah, holding me when I was a year old. Bamah holding Bamah, priceless.
Enjoy,
Bamah
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